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Perez: Maldonado is very aggressive

Sergio Perez has stoked up his feud with controversial Pastor Maldonado nearly two weeks after their crash at the British Grand Prix…

Sergio Perez has stoked up his feud with controversial Pastor Maldonado nearly two weeks after their crash at the British Grand Prix.

Speaking to reporters on the eve of this weekend’s German Grand Prix, Perez of Sauber said he had not changed his mind and reiterated that he believed the Williams man needed to change his approach before anyone was injured.

Perez admitted that his emotions were running high in the immediate aftermath of their collision at Silverstone where Maldonado was reprimanded and fined.

He called for motor racing’s ruling body the FIA to take action against Maldonado and demanded that the driver changed his attitude.

He said: “It was an unnecessary crash. I was very angry at that moment and probably said things that I would not have liked to have said, but it is already said now, so in the end I still share my opinions from last time.”

Asked, given the same situation again, if he would pass the Venezuelan round the outside, after two collisions with him this season, Perez replied: “You have to attack in Formula One these days, you don’t have that many opportunities. So if you have the opportunity you have to take it.

“Pastor was driving in a very aggressive way, more than aggressive, so I think now he will change his style because he is a very intelligent driver and a quick driver. That’s why he is in F1.

“He has probably realised that he has given away too many points because of this aggression.”

Maldonado told reporters that he had no intention of changing his style.

Told of this, Perez said: “Ok, in my opinion I think he should not change his style, but he should think about why he is getting so many reprimands and so many penalties, but in the end it is up to him to decide.

“If he wants to keep it that way then I respect it.”

Perez believes that the collision cost him points.

He said: “It’s always very difficult to know but we definitely had a very good pace and we were quite competitive, probably we could have fought for the top five for sure.

“Then from then on you never know, maybe the podium was reachable, but we were in a good position.”

Maldonado, involved in three crashes in the last four races, said he had nothing to worry about and had settled his differences with the Mexican.

“We spoke for two or three minutes when we went to the stewards at Silverstone,” he said. “All clear. Everybody saw that I lost the car and it was nothing intentional – even him.

“We have been big rivals and contenders in the past, especially GP2 and here again. I understand his point — he was hungry, he lost the race, but on the other side I lost my race as well.

“I am not here to do polemics. I am here to race, to win, to put my team at the top and to work hard with them. It doesn’t matter what the other drivers are saying – I don’t care.”